Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a clothes drier in which a lifting device that can be fastened to a ceiling and can be operated in stepwise fashion supports a drier frame carrying the clothes line.
A clothes drier with a lifting device that is fastened to the ceiling and can be operated in stepwise fashion is known from Austrian utility model AT 3 328 U1 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 4,376,525). There, a rigid, rectangular frame, in which the clothes line runs parallel to its longitudinal sides, is suspended at its four corners on four cords. The four cords hang down from two winding spools, which are each assigned to a narrow side of the frame and are located on a shaft of the lifting device, which can be set in rotation via an endless cord pull. A separate supporting framework which can be folded together in scissors-like fashion can be incorporated into the rigid frame in order for it to be possible to use the latter, separated from the lifting device, for drying clothes in the open as well.
Clothes driers are known which have a drier frame which can be folded together on itself toward a central longitudinal support and consists of two rectangular part-frames which are arranged on the two sides of the central longitudinal support, carry the clothes line and can be folded together toward the central longitudinal support to form a narrow bar, the clothes line being enclosed in the folded-together part-frame. The drier frame which can be folded together to form a narrow bar is supported by a height-adjustable floor stand. The supporting device for the drier frame which can be folded together on itself to form a narrow bar can also be formed by four legs which are articulated at the ends of the central longitudinal support of the drier frame and can be folded out downward.
A clothes drier is also known in which the drier frame which carries the clothes line and consists of a central longitudinal support and two terminal transverse supports is suspended, via a rope pull and two articulated arms, on two ceiling brackets arranged above the longitudinal support ends and fastened to the ceiling at a distance from one another. The drier frame is raised and lowered via the two pull ropes of the rope pull, which act on the ends of the longitudinal support, are in each case deflected at the ceiling brackets and, in the region of the ceiling brackets, run through clamping devices which are fastened to the brackets and are pulled tight or released by pulling on the ropes. Each articulated arm is fastened pivotally to both one end of the longitudinal support and the ceiling bracket located above it. When the drier frame is being raised, both ropes must be pulled as evenly as possible so as to ensure an approximately horizontal position of the drier frame during raising. On reaching the ceiling brackets, care must be taken that both ropes are clamped so as to secure the drier frame to the ceiling and to prevent the drier frame falling down on one side or both sides.